The early locomotives built by Gooch for Brunel's Great Western had notoriously poor brakes, so much so that IKB was questioned on this point during the debates on why he thought broad gauge should be retained.

When asked if the brakes were poor he responded to the effect they were were hopeless, but he pointed out that to stop quickly one had only to throw the engine into reverse!

Oh My God! In that video in the link... the Montreal Maine Atlantic Railway is the same one whose runaway train crashed into the town of Lac Magantic and burnt down the town centre, killing over 40 people in 2013. Bad luck in one case, and bad safety record in the other.